Time and Time Again
by Sqydd
Summary: Time and time again, things will end up alright. Within the world of my story "Revolution."


**Author's Note -** This is a one-shot/epilogue from the world of my other story "Revolution." In light of that I suggest that you read the story before this, as some, but not all, events are repeated and there's a big chance you'll be lost.

* * *

"East."

"No, it's west."

"East," he insisted.

"West, you idiot," Reyes sighed, snatching the map from his claws. Dominic huffed a complaint and crossed his arms over his bushy chest fur.

"I know my directions like the back of my mane!"

"You can't even see the back of your mane."

"Yes, I can—watch!" Dominic spun in a circle trying to catch the back of his mane and Reyes left him to it, trying to figure out the less-than-comprehensible directions given to them by Brahms.

"I've figured out Weavile claw markings faster than this shit. Why is it so odd?"

"I guess it's hard to write when you don't have _hands._ "

"But he has Psychic, so don't defend him." He held the map up to the mountainside shore they were walking across, finally matching the paths against the ones slightly smudged by the early morning sea fog. "…East."

"See! I told you! You should start taking my word for it more often," Dominic huffed. Reyes sighed and rubbed his eyes, marred by the purple marks of insomnia.

"I will admit you were right, however it'd be both of our downfalls if I listened to your screwed reasoning at all."

"Not every plan of mine is hyper destructive… I'd say thirty percent at best."

He snorted and folded the map up, shoving it into his travelling pack, and looked out towards the sea as they walked, the point where the frothy water intersected the greyish-blue sky of dawn, and he frowned in thought. "Have you ever wondered what it would be like to get on a boat and start sailing, just to see what else you can find?"

"Not really," he admitted, waving Reyes off with a smirk. His eyes, bleached of color in the weak light, glinted with his usual energy. "I mean, I already have everything I want here. A nice house, hot food, you guys, and Phoebe."

"It's not necessarily looking for something more or even something better—it's just wanting to see what else is there in the world."

"Frankly, what I've seen already is enough to turn me off of life for a _long_ while. But why do you ask?"

"I'm curious," he answered.

"Curiosity will kill the Reyes." He grimaced at Reyes' smirk. "Déjà vu."

"In a good way." Silence stretched between them like the path ahead as they moved forward, the same as they had been doing for nearly ten years now. At that point they were a duo through and through—rarely were they ever called on for solo missions or forays with other revolutionaries. "Dominic and Reyes" was just as inseparable as "life and death" or "night and day." They could read each other like books almost all the time, Reyes predicting Dominic's usual inanity or rarer wisdom and Dominic being able to quote Reyes' age-old drivel.

"I can't wait to get home—this trip has gone on way too long," Dominic complained.

"That, I have to agree with, but it's not Brahms' fault that the rebels caught on and moved."

"Right… It's his fault he didn't manage the damn security check properly," he grumbled. "Now I have to deal with sand in my fur that's going to take _hours_ to comb out—"

"It's not as if you have anything better to do," Reyes pointed out. "You'll just go home to eat and sleep. Do you even train?"

"Parenting _is_ freaking training, let me tell you. I've done more running around in the last six months than in my entire life, and in case you can't tell that's a ridiculous damn figure."

"You know what I mean."

"Arceus, Reyes, do I _need_ to train? I've been fighting every second of my life for twenty years now, it's not like I'm going to forget it all in a day or two. How much farther do we have to go?"

"I can't say. The Cinnabar Islands are very expansive—"

"In other words we're going to be walking for hours again, aren't we?" Dominic came to a stop at a small indentation in the cliff and dropped to the ground, kicking up gravel as he did so. "Let's stop to eat. I'm starving and I know Feb is too."

"Not everyone eats like you, but _three minutes maximum._ It's midmorning and we still have a fixed amount of ground to cover." Dominic grinned as Reyes set his rucksack on the ground, taking out a pair of leafy bundles.

"Come on Feb, eating time." He shook his mane a bit, and a second later Phoebe's head popped out between his ears. She blinked sleepily as she tumbled into his arms and Dominic let out a laugh. "Still sleepy?"

"Ah," she affirmed. She yawned before squirming in his grip and he released her to the ground. She sat down and scribbled her question messily in the saltwater-softened dirt. "…Nah, we're not there yet. You should ask Reyes about that."

"I'm going to get a better look around," Reyes sighed, avoiding confrontation and instead stalking further down the path. Dominic unwrapped her food, a collection of heat-softened Berries that she could eat with her cub's teeth. She grimaced at the sight of them—well, they were alike in that aspect, at least—and pawed at his leg when he took out a chunk of beef. "Ah-ah, this is adult food."

"Ayah," she complained, rolling her Berries around on the leaves.

"Eat, Feb, or else." She just stuck her tongue out at him, but hell, it wasn't like she'd actually get punished or anything. It hurt him enough to just see her stub her toe, let alone he himself causing her any type of pain. "Eat and you'll turn into a big and strong Luxray. Come on, for Daddy?" She made a new sound that he didn't quite understand, something between a sigh and a hiccup. "So, I'm gonna be optimistic and say that's a _yes._ "

"Pssht." She ate her Berries quietly while he worked on cutting his meat into bits. He heated it carefully with Flamethrower, making sure not to burn his claws, then he caught her giving him The Eyes.

"Feb…"

"Nn?" She refused to relent and even—arceusdamn—she even tilted her head to the side and lowered her ears, letting her wide eyes do all the work. He lost the battle of will and set a small piece in front of her. She jumped on it happily and he couldn't wipe the stupid grin from his face.

"Stop turning me into a coward. I'm tough, a tough Dad, okay?" She wasn't even listening—her attention had already been drawn by a Caterpie scuttling across the stone. He gave up and focused on licking his claws clean as Reyes came back up the path.

"Alright, it's time to go." He picked Phoebe up as she tried pouncing on the startled Caterpie and set her on Dominic's head, where she immediately burrowed into his mane. "We don't have much left to walk."

"Thank Arceus for that," Dominic sighed, getting to his feet.

"But we have to do a fair bit of hiking." He pointed up at a tall cliff ahead of them. "Let's see how fast you can learn Rock Climb."

"I'd like to see you get up there fast, old man," he muttered. Reyes raised his eyebrows at the challenge and walked over to the base of the cliff. He gave Dominic a levelled look right before jumping the twenty feet to the lowest foothold, then he pushed off in the same second to a larger ledge, and with a final jump and a swing on a protruding branch, punctuated by a triple flip, he was at the peak. "You didn't need to show off so damn much."

"Let's see you do all that, _Dad_ ," Reyes called to him. Dominic mocked him silently as he set to work on the slower, less fun process of alpinism. Challenging Reyes was more for his own amusement—he himself couldn't jump on little ledges like that. The pads of his feet couldn't grip the gravel well enough for him to risk his and Phoebe's lives. By the time he made it to the top Reyes had already gone ahead on the trail.

"Damn Sceptile! At least wait for me!"

"You took too long," he replied, looking over his shoulder. Dominic pouted but didn't say a word as he caught up. He caught the scent of other Pokémon in the distance and gestured for Reyes to be silent. "How many?" he asked under his breath.

"I can't tell—the scent of the sea is messing with theirs. They probably chose this place because of that. I'm trying to listen, though, and it might be over four."

"More than four? That's barely a challenge." Dominic grinned at that before pulling Reyes from the path and behind one of the many boulders marring the landscape. Above them, the grey clouds rumbled with the beginnings of a storm. Phoebe writhed worriedly from the sound and Dominic mumbled for her to be quiet. The voices Dominic had detected grew in volume to be heard over the thunder.

"Is the stuff from the Pokémon Lab even still valid? They've been sitting there for decades."

"Yeah sure it is, Gastrodon, you just have to fix it up a little."

"There are a lot of more valid, more _recent_ options for weaponry, you know."

"Sure, but how many can you sneak without anybody noticing a big ol' Snorlax?"

"Wow, you've actually made a decent point this time."

"The three of you should shut up—that's a better point. You're being loud enough to wake the Ghost-types."

"They're not wrong," Dominic whispered.

"You're one to talk. Now, what are we going to do?"

"Charge in, fists ready?" Reyes punched the back of his head. "Ouch. Okay, maybe not. Here." He pulled Phoebe from his mane and handed her over. "I'm going to take a look." He held his claws up to his grin, and in the next second he was barely a blur against the background, and even his paw prints in the now-soggy ground faded away in Reyes' eyes.

"Ayah," Phoebe complained as the rain soaked through her fur. Reyes set her on the ground and she fell in a messy splat of blue and black, her tail limp in the mud. "Aah."

"A little rain won't hurt you." She wasn't placated, however, whining softly under her breath. He took one of his seed pods and grew it into a sunflower. "This is something I've only ever done for one other Pokémon. Here." He tied the stem to her tail.

"Ah?" She wagged her tail from the side and was apparently very pleased with it, because she grinned and jumped up and down. "Ah ah!" She bumped her head against his leg with a purr and he smiled, petting her. She arched her head back into his hand and he hesitated, the tips of his claws a hair's length away from the net of scars on her throat. She opened her eyes at him, perplexed, and he let out a soft sigh, gently pushing her away. "Mm?" she hummed in confusion.

"It's…nothing, Phoebe." Thankfully, Dominic returned at that moment, his fur hanging around him like a curtain from the weight of the rainwater.

"Five," he said quickly. "A Gastrodon, Snorlax, Jynx, Chingling, and Pidgey. And they have some crap machine from the Lab across the island… It looks like they're trying to turn it into a weapon, or at least fix it back into working condition.

"If it's from the Pokémon Lab it's been sitting through the elements for years; I doubt that It can be repair— Did you say a Chingling?" Dominic didn't get to reply before a loud screech rent the air. He and Phoebe, the two with the more sensitive ears, doubled over in pain. Reyes went to cover them, raising his leaf blades just as a fist came to smash the boulder they were hiding behind. He pushed back, repelling the Snorlax and sending him on his behind as the Pidgey darted towards him. He wound his vines into a net and snared her inside, letting her fall to the ground in a heap as Snorlax rolled to his feet. He grabbed Reyes by the tail, bringing him up, and Reyes twisted from his grip with a kick in the eye for good measure. He landed on his hands while Snorlax was still disoriented and pushed backwards to drive both of his feet into his soft back, causing him to stumble forward and onto his stomach.

"G-Get the Chingling," Dominic growled, his eyes narrowed from the pain as he returned Phoebe to his fur. She burrowed inside gratefully, and although he worried about fighting with her on him as per his new routine, he knew she would be safer there than out in the open.

"I'm trying," Reyes hissed through his teeth. Dominic clenched his head as he tried to focus on the little gold Pokémon, but he was seeing double and triple, then the edges of his vision started to burn away. He dug his claws into his forearm to stay conscious and refocused, creating a Shadow Ball in his claws and taking aim. He didn't get to fire before an Ice Beam hit him from behind, throwing him into the mud and the ball into the air.

"Oi!" Reyes turned at Dominic's voice and spotted the Shadow Ball. He skidded across the mud with his arms out and caught it before it hit the ground and dispelled. He immediately shivered at the cold draining sensation of Ghost-type energy in his palms before shifting his body around to the Chingling, tossing it in the same movement. She closed her mouth as she dodged, giving Dominic reprieve enough to leap to his feet, and in another movement he was in her face. "Heh… Thanks for washing my ears out with blood," he said, grabbing her by the rope appendages and tying them into her mouth. He backed up and tossed her into the Jynx, who caught her psychically, then dropped her just as quickly when he barreled into both of them.

"Wait, I've seen this dude's mug before, him and the Sceptile!" Pidgey yelled. Dominic grinned madly at that, holding Jynx by her hair over a deep trench in the cliff.

"Great! I was about to be disappointed."

"Dominic," Reyes warned, "stay focused."

"Got you, Reyes." Reyes watched Snorlax jump to his feet and bounced away as his landing created shockwaves. He forgot, however, that the shockwaves would also create waves of mud, and the impact sent him skidding across the dirt until he was caught in a strong psychic hold. He was flipped on his head and had his left blades forcefully yanked away before he was dragged towards the trench. Just as he began to fall Dominic came running from the other side and jumped to catch him, sending Reyes rolling across the ground as he quickly switched to the offensive to kick Snorlax in the face, then he let a Focus Blast loose in his gut, winding him.

"T-The ex-King," Snorlax wheezed, clenching his stomach. "The ex-King is—"

"Oi, I go by Dominic now," he interrupted, waving a claw reproachfully. "Learn it, love it, fear it if you want, I don't really care."

"Dominic!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm focused, he's just _too damn resilient._ " He lit his claws with dark energy and drove them into Snorlax's stomach, succeeding only in pushing him back, and even then the ground was slick so it wasn't a huge accomplishment. He groaned as he stepped back in the squelching mud, which gave him an idea. He used his energy to scatter the mud enough to create a hole and dug deep beneath Snorlax's feet before exploding all of the mud outwards. He dove forward in time to avoid the behemoth as he fell into Dominic's sinkhole, and the mud immediately recovered its original position. Dominic pulled free and cackled at Snorlax, who he was currently eye-level with. He took a deep breath and used Flamethrower, burning the mud until it hardened like concrete. "Hah! Have fun getting out of that," he said, kicking Snorlax's cheek.

Reyes rolled to his feet and spotted the Jynx still trying to work the machine. He started towards her only to be slapped back by a wave of mud, landing hard on his back. He couldn't even rise before a pool of muddied water rose around him, binding his limbs and covering his nose and mouth. He gurgled out a protest as he bucked against his restraints, his tail swishing back and forth in the muck. He finally relaxed his extremities to instead focus on the rain running down his face and the dirt around him. He turned his claws over to let his vines grow beneath the mud, circumventing the pool and poking out around him, twisting into stronger coils of grass that he wormed beneath the water and tangled around his arms, pulling and pulling until he freed himself. He got to his feet and watched Gastrodon attempt to freeze him and the ground with Ice Beam. He swerved from its path twice and grew within spitting distance of him. There, Reyes grabbed his head and Absorbed the remainder of his strength, letting him fall to the ground in a pile of groaning goop.

"You should've watched where the hell that Ice Beam was flying around," Dominic grumbled. Reyes looked over his shoulder and saw him frozen from the ground to his neck, his mane still blowing in the storm's wind. Reyes snorted before he inspected the ice and, yes, it was very sturdy.

"It's going to take ten seconds for my leaf blades to grow back."

"Ten seconds? That's shabby even for you."

"Well I _do_ need sunlight." He straightened his claws out before striking at the ice twice to little effect. "Do you want some ice chips?"

"Damn you." Dominic cringed as the storm increased in severity, the raindrops becoming more like rain-basketballs dropping on his head. He glanced back at the Jynx at the machine and— Wait, where was it? He shifted his gaze to right behind Reyes saw its faux-pas bleached head silhouetted against the dark clouds. "Reyes—"

Reyes felt the force of a car slam into his face, sending him whirling before he tumbled into the mud and slid to the edge of the cliff that overlooked the ocean. He clenched his cheek as it swelled, closing up his right eye but leaving his left to observe the slate-grey waters crashing against the sharp stony base. He pulled his claws away as ice crystals formed over his skin and spread at an accelerated rate until most of his upper body was frozen stiff. Jynx stood just a few feet away from him as she waved her arm to the side. The rain around her froze into pellets, which stretched into shards of ice as sharp as needles that whirled around her body.

"Ah!" Phoebe's small form darted between them in an instant, electricity zapping all along her fur to bring it up even in the rain. Reyes' eyes widened and he thought he heard Dominic's loud protests on the other side of the cliff, but he was too preoccupied staring at her.

"Phoebe, move. _Now._ "

"Ah-ah-ah!" She lowered into a crouch and gave a weak growl he could barely hear over the rolling thunder. He dragged himself forward with his good arm and met the Jynx's perplexed expression with a glare.

"Don't. If you fire on her, you'll be biting off more than you can chew."

"What do I care? She's a revolutionary, same as you," she countered in a hoarse voice, spreading the icicles out to better aim on both of them. He pulled Phoebe towards him, feeling her turn and nuzzle his side, and tried to figure out how to not die and beat Jynx in the same movement. He didn't have any luck there.

Reyes felt a shift in the air the second before it happened: the water around Jynx froze into huge stalactites, and before either of them could react they slammed all around her with only a hair's breadth distance from her skin. She gasped in surprise before the next chunk of ice fell squarely on the crown of her head, letting her buckle in a heap and fall to the mud. Reyes was grateful, but he looked around and couldn't see another soul that could've done that. He left the matter alone for the time being and lifted Phoebe into his arms, running over to Dominic who was just as bug-eyed as he was. "What happened?"

"Hell if I know!" he replied. "Just get me out of here already, I'm getting freezer-burn in some damn uncomfortable places." Reyes released Phoebe to Dominic's head as he started cutting the ice away in cubes, freeing Dominic's arm and leg. His head throbbed from it all and he just wanted to lie down and take a break, but he focused on getting Dominic free before anything else. Dominic exhaled and looked over his shoulder, suddenly gaining a pensive look. "Hey, Reyes, would you be able to recognize Lilly if you saw her again today?"

"That's a bullshit question. Of course I could, and why the hell are you asking?"

"Well…" He nodded at whatever he was looking at and Reyes risked a glance over his shoulder. There _was_ a Lapras, that was a fact, and it was using the muddied water as a substitute for the ocean, swimming around the machine to poke and pull at the parts with her mouth. Finally, the whole thing shut down with a groan and a weak spurt of electricity. The Lapras looked around then, and Reyes saw a long scar down its neck, several more on its shell, and one more above its eye, and as it turned to look at him, he felt everything in the world come to a screeching halt.

"…Reyes?" she whispered, her voice seeming to carry across the cliff, the world. Reyes curled his claws into fists, barely managing to mouth her name before he buckled.

Dominic pitched forward to grab him by the arm, halting him from tasting the mud. "Reyes…" Lilly repeated, puzzlement and plain shock clear on her face. Dominic thought she was kind of pretty, then again he had a skewed perception of everything.

"Uh… This is awkward," Dominic said. Lilly didn't response, quietly swimming over to the edge of the cliff and looking towards the land below. A second later an explosion sounded that sent a giant cloud of smoke in the air that quickly dispersed from the rain. "What was that?"

"I destroyed the remainder of the Pokémon Lab," she explained softly, looking at him. "I don't know what could've been salvaged, but I didn't want to take the chance."

"That was…smart."

"Anh?"

"I don't know either, Phoebe." He adjusted his grip on Reyes, finding him annoyingly heavy, which was when Lilly swam back over.

"Just lay him on my shell."

"Uh… Alright." It took a little effort due to her height, but he managed to get Reyes in a mostly comfortable position on her shell. He adjusted himself right after despite still being unconscious—it was most likely second nature to him. Lilly smiled at that, but just for a second.

"Who are you anyway? Are you another revolutionary?"

"Mm… Yeah sure, let's go with that." She gave him a look that made him want to tell her everything starting from his conception. _Women are scary._ "Okay, I'm not really. I'm more like a…rent-a-killer. I still have my issues with the revolutionaries… Wait, are _you_ one?" he asked. She hesitated a moment.

"N… No, I'm not. I just help," she said shortly but not at all rudely.

"That's suspicious. Are you sure you're not an imposter or anything?" He was pretty good at seeing through ruses, and she seemed legit, but something about her was throwing him off.

"I promise you, I'm the Lilly that he knows," she said, staring him in the eyes. He searched hers just as she searched his.

"…Well damn," he finally said, catching her by surprise. "This is going to make me one hell of a third wheel." Phoebe sneezed and he sighed. "Look, this isn't the right place to have a conversation—let's get out of the rain."

"Follow me." She led him to a broken part of the cliff where the muddy water gathered into a waterfall, pouring out to a small reservoir level with the rest of the island that led out to the sea. It was most likely how she got up there as well. She was down before him, sliding down the frothy cascade and landing in the pool with a graceful splash before glancing at him expectantly. He decided that he hated life as he began the slow downward climb to the little pool.

"An! An!" Phoebe cheered encouragingly, which wasn't nearly as endearing when his fur laid like a lead weight on his back. By the time he made it to the bottom Lilly was treading the water edging the islands.

"There's no time to waste," she said. "I have to go before the others get here."

"Others who?"

"The revolutionaries."

"So I'm guessing from that statement, you're not one of them," he said plainly, dog-paddling towards land. She frowned at a memory.

"I couldn't—if I did become one, Reyes would've found out."

"Okay. That makes sense." Actually, it made the farthest sense from him since he was still missing the biggest piece of the puzzle. He climbed onto her shell just as the shadow of a Pidgeot appeared below the blanket of clouds. She followed a short channel to the open ocean, and with speed he didn't know Lapras could get, she started swimming fast enough to leave his stomach back on the island.

"W-Whoa, can we go back to get my organs? I kind of need those."

"Ma!" Phoebe exclaimed, rising from his mane to stand in the wind excitedly. He pulled her down, half afraid she might blow away and half desperate for something to cling to. He imagined all of the patronizing he would surely earn from Reyes had he been awake to deal it, because since when did he ever shy away from the prospect of extreme danger?

"—I'm sorry," Lilly apologized after a long string of silence, glancing back at the Cinnabar Islands. Even through the gloom of the rain, the swarming bodies of revolutionaries were visible.

"Look, lady, I'm not the one you should be apologizing to. You really hurt him, and it wasn't like Reyes _needed_ any more hurt on top of what he already has."

"I know," she said pitifully.

"I hate to be nosy—well, usually I don't, but here it feels wrong—but why _did_ you leave? I get that it's totally none of my business, but…"

"No, no, it's okay; it would feel better to tell someone. It's just… I'm ashamed to tell," she admitted with a frown.

"Trust me, if there's _anyone_ that knows of shame, that's me."

"I was…hiding. Well, not exactly—I just didn't want him to see me knowing that I'd let our daughter…" She choked off for a few seconds and Dominic gave her the time to regain her composure. "I drifted away, not paying attention to where I went, and I was taken on a ship full of rebels. I had a choice: die, or be their slave. I decided, then, that I would fight, fight to help all of the other poor defenseless humans and Pokémon getting killed in a senseless war, fight to keep my mind off of what I was surely doing to him."

"Couldn't you, you know, send him a letter? We still have those." She didn't find that one nearly as amusing.

"I've tried…you don't know how long I've tried…but every time I sat down, my mind went blank, and all I could think to do was apologize." She let out a breath from finally lowering the weight of her burden. Phoebe slipped from Dominic's claws and pawed her neck consolingly.

"She reminds me of my daughter, when she was that age," Lilly said thoughtfully.

"Sunny, yeah, Reyes told me about her."

"Hmm, he did? From what I remember he was usually tight-lipped about himself."

"He still is, but I worked him over with my vast reserves of charisma and humor."

"How are the others? I remember Kim and Leroy, and Azalea too—" Dominic made an uncomfortable noise at the sound of her name. Lilly noticed and looked back at him apprehensively.

"Now that's a _long_ story, and I think it'd be better if Reyes told you. When he wakes up," he added. "He's been moving non-stop for a few days, taking up guard shifts while Sunny and I slept, moving ahead to do some spying… He always works extra hard for no reason, but I guess you already know that."

"You know, I didn't imagine that he and I would meet again like this. It must be Arceus' doing," she said, looking skyward. Dominic sighed and laid down with his head against Reyes' side.

"Arceusism is bullshit—excuse my language." He watched Phoebe turn in a circle on his stomach, matting his fur down before she curled up into a little ball with a pleased sigh. He put his arms behind his head and stared at the sky, blinking against the last remnants of rain as it slowly cleared up. "Also, I don't know what you're going to tell Reyes, but it better be something a lot better than _I'm sorry._ I'm sure you put up a fight and didn't just _let_ your kid get killed. If you tried your damnest and still failed—"

"I _failed,_ that's the point of it," she pressed. "I had the easy job: stay home and watch Sunny. Reyes was the one going out fighting for peace. Even then, I failed at such a small task."

"Parenting isn't a small task."

"Compared to what else a Pokémon can do in this world?" she asked without looking at him. Dominic let out a heavy sigh.

"And in any case, I'm not a Pokémon you should try to justify yourself for. Leave it to the guy that can actually give you your forgiveness." Phoebe's breathing slowed and he lowered his voice. "I can't help you."

"I'd expect you to be mad at me," Lilly said. "There aren't many people that I've told this story to, but they all reacted the same way."

"Well, what right do I have to get mad over this? I've done worse, and I'm not the wronged one here. And well, to be really honest, you're not worth getting mad over."

"Dominic…"

"To have killed your daughter yourself, or wanted her to die—which I'm betting you didn't—is something else, but I'm pretty good at seeing through bullshit by now, and I can tell you're sincere. You're a nice person, Lilly," he held. "Just did the totally wrong thing."

Keeping his eyes closed was becoming a harder feat for Reyes by the second. He didn't hear the entire conversation, but what he did hear made him so antsy he wanted to jump in and actually give his own input, but he realized that more of his words would be harmful than helpful until he fully gathered his thoughts. He should've been happy, right? After all the bad shit in a row, he found Lilly—or rather, Lilly found him. But it was _why_ she left that had him ambivalent. He knew her, knew her like the back of his claws, and her reasoning made him uneasy to say the least. She just…wouldn't…leave without facing him at all, or was he just fooling himself thinking so? He hated himself for doubting her, but there was a part of himself he couldn't deny was hating her for leaving him like that at all.

"He might be mad," Dominic said, "and he might even resent you for it, but he'll not hate you, so I really believe he'll forgive you." Reyes had noticed how in-sync he and Dominic had become over the years. They could do little things like finish sentences at first, then it grew into a perfect synergy in and out of battle. He guessed it helped that they knew all that was possible about each other.

"I don't know…"

"Hey, trust me, alright? I know the guy like the back of my mane." Reyes fought the urge to roll his eyes.

"Can you even see the back of your mane?" Lilly indulged him anyway.

"Ye… Well, no. Bad example. I know him well, is what I'm trying to say." Phoebe whimpered fearfully in her sleep and so he combed his claws through her fur, trying to calm her down. "And anyway, I think Feb's onto something here. It's a long way to shore and I'm tired."

"Why?"

Reyes knew that Lilly heard him from the tightening of muscles in her long neck. He could barely see with the absence of stars and the sliver of moon, but he could see enough to know how uncomfortable the topic made her—it wasn't, however, anywhere near how the topic made him feel.

"Reyes—"

"Why, is all I'm asking." He listened to Dominic and Phoebe's synchronized breathing while she came up with a response. When she did, her voice was feeble.

"I failed—"

"You know me, Lilly, and you know that I wouldn't care about that." He sat up, moving his tail away from Dominic, and leaned his face against her neck. The contact was so instinctive, so familiar… "I was hurting, and it hurt even more to not know where you were. _Ten years_ , Lillian—can you even somewhat comprehend that pain?"

"I know, Reyes—don't you think I was hurting too?"

"Obviously not, because you would've come back. No one was holding you to it—"

" _I_ was holding me to it!" she argued. They had only ever raised their voices at each other twice in all the time that they've known each other, and both times it left a sickening feeling in Reyes' stomach. This time, however, the feeling was buried under several other emotions, most notably anger.

"And for what?" he yelled back, hating himself for every syllable that left his mouth. "Because you didn't think you were doing anything on that beach, you wanted to go out and leave everything you know behind with not a word—every _one_ you know behind?"

"No! You're missing my point, Reyes."

"Then please, oh please, direct me towards it," he hissed, rancor dripping from his words alongside the vitriol. "Lilly, I wouldn't have complained in any way if you told me you wanted to do something on the behalf of the revolution, but the only issue was someone had to stay and watch Sunny. But since she was gone, I guess you didn't have that problem anymore."

Lilly came to a stop so sudden Reyes had to grab Dominic and Phoebe to prevent them from falling into the water. She twisted her neck around to give him such an expression of pure anger and pain that he felt breathless for a moment. "Do you… You can't _possibly_ think that I was happy that our daughter, our only daughter, was ripped to _pieces_ in front of my eyes, just so I could leave you behind. Reyes, if you do, you're worse than I've ever imagined."

"I… No, I don't. I'm sorry, I'm really sorry for saying that, but…" He slumped over, fisting his hands on his knees. "You left, Lilly."

"I know. I felt like—"

"No need to tell me. I heard you speaking with Dominic earlier."

"You weren't unconscious?"

"I was for a while."

"He's nice, Dominic, albeit a little odd," she said softly. She wasn't changing the subject—she knew he was too astute for her to get away with it. "I can see why you stay with him."

"You wouldn't understand the… _relationship_ us two have. He's a complete pain in my ass and I know that he finds me annoying sometimes too, but when it comes down to it, he will always have my back and vice versa."

"Well I digress." Reyes sat up and turned towards the water, staring at his reflection. "There's also the story of what happened to Azalea—Dominic said you would tell me."

"It's a sad story."

"It can't be as sad as ours." He told her then, because he didn't feel like beating around the bush any longer. He told her of his meeting with Dominic all the way up to the fight with Mewtwo. When he was done she remained silent for some time.

"There was nothing that I wouldn't do again given the chance. Would I like doing it? No—in fact I still hate myself for all of it to this day. The point, however, was that it was the right thing to do at that point in time."

"…Really." It was a flat statement, not a question, so he didn't respond. "Things have gotten a lot harder for you since…"

"That's an understatement. Things are still hard too, you know."

"But I remember some of those," she added. "The thing in Lilycove, for instance. It was all the humans were talking about the entire month."

"You were in Hoenn then?" She went quiet, probably because she ran herself in a circle back to the accursed topic.

"Yes, out from the shore of Littleroot Town. There was a disturbance in Granite Cave that I helped resolve."

"But you never officially became a revolutionary—I would've heard."

"No, I didn't, _because_ you would've heard."

"There were a million other things you could've done that would've helped, things that didn't involve this random way of dodging me _and yourself,_ " he added bitterly.

"I'm not dodging myself!"

"I think you are."

"We aren't going to resolve this any time soon."

"How could we have, in any case?" he muttered. She started swimming again, the small splashes occasionally breaking the heavy weight of silence around them. He didn't know how to fix things, or even if they could've been fixed. Lilly wouldn't have thought Reyes would lose any faith in her for what had happened, nor would Reyes have thought she felt embarrassed on his behalf in any way for losing a fight and a life. Maybe they just didn't know each other.

"You two are loud as all fuck," Dominic commented, opening one eye to glare at Reyes. He simply sighed in response, shoulders falling so much they looked dislocated. Dominic frowned and looked away. "You know I'm kidding, right?"

"I'm not in a jocular mood."

"Yeah, and that's what's bumming me out."

"Yes, _you're_ the bummed-out one."

"Okay, well, I don't have to be nice then. You two are in a stupid argument for stupid reasons. Neither of you were right, neither of you were wrong—that's my take of it."

"Nobody asked for your opinion, Dominic," they said simultaneously, although Reyes was strikingly offensive about it.

"Okay." Dominic wasn't particularly upset, but he knew that Reyes and Lilly were, which was the bigger issue. They hadn't seen each other in a lot of years so why were they acting so standoffish? Then again, he couldn't tell nearly as much about them as they could with each other. After all, they were mates at one point, entirely connected—they probably had weird mate-telepathy and could reach each other with a single look. He and Phoebe were outsiders to their situation in every aspect. "Domestic disputes aside, we're close to land. I can smell it. Hallelujah." They didn't share his sentiments and he decided to fall silent.

 _It's been a long time since we've seen each other, and the first thing we do is go off,_ Reyes thought. He wanted to have a real reunion, to see Lilly and be happy and her be happy too 0his were no exception.

He watched the worn buildings of Fuchsia Town creep into the distance and sighed, unsure if he should be relieved that the journey was over or pained. Lilly came to a stop about a dozen feet from the shore, quietly alerting Dominic to the fact that she couldn't get closer without risking beaching herself. Dominic was oddly quiet as he slid onto the sand and Reyes almost followed him up the coast before he realized Lilly was turning away. "Seriously?" he said before he could catch himself. She slumped a bit and gave him a worn look.

"I keep moving, Reyes. It's what I've been doing the last however many years."

"Even now, you're still going to move? Don't misunderstand, I _applaud_ you for your altruism—"

"Then why does it sound so derogative?"

"It's as sincere as I can sound right now," he insisted. "Lilly, at least until we can actually talk through this—"

"We've tried that, haven't we?"

"No, right now we're talking over and around each other. We haven't even reached one agreement yet." They went silent, staring at each other a second before searching for the answer in the sand, the sea, the sky.

"You love each other," Dominic said, snapping Reyes back to reality as he remembered he was even there. He looked back to see Dominic standing a bit away with a scorching look. "That's something you can still agree on, isn't it?"

"Of course," they said, exchanging a look that ended with a short laugh on both their parts. Dominic beamed in response, happy to have lightened the mood a little. Still, there were more pressing matters. "No matter what, I wouldn't stop loving you," Lilly said quietly.

"Me too. But love can't change these facts either." The grey cloud instantly returned to smother them, visibly choking away any mirth in the air.

"I'll, uh… I'll go report in to the revolutionaries. I need to drop Phoebe off anyway. You two just…stay here."

"Dominic," Reyes started, but Dominic held his claws up helplessly.

"Someone has to do it, and I doubt you want to leave Lilly, so…yeah."

"There's no outpost here though," he pointed out. "And whether you go to Saffron or Celadon, that's an overnight trip."

"I'll just send the report through WPS from town. Shouldn't take me more than a couple of hours to get back."

"But it's not very secure."

"Hey, Wingull's kind of old, but that doesn't make him any less reliable," he protested. He took up Reyes' backpack, grunting at the weight, and slung it over his shoulders. "I'll be back before you can miss me!" he said, already heading up the shore.

"That's an awfully long time period you're giving yourself," Reyes said, although the mocking was halfhearted, but Dominic took it all the same. Lilly waited until his mane was just a crimson speck against the sky before speaking up.

"I try to avoid shores, you know… It brings back unwanted memories."

"I can imagine." Instead of latching onto that, she winced. "I'm sorry for earlier, for accusing you of wanting Sunny to…"

"I know you didn't mean it."

"That doesn't mean you weren't hurt by it." She paused just for a second.

"You're right. It stung like a Beedrill."

"That was sort of my intention. I think… We're both hurt, that much is obvious, but instead of making each other feel better, we're trying to outdo each other's hurt." Moreover, they were trying hard to label themselves as the victim of the dispute, and that wasn't working either. "Dominic mentioned something we can agree on: maybe, if we focus on those things, we can work our way towards the light at the end of this stupid tunnel." Lilly treaded water a moment, frowning at her thoughts as she stared at the moon.

"Both of our lives sucked," she said after a long period of silence. Reyes chuckled humorlessly, rubbing the back of his neck as he sunk into the damp sand.

"More than true. Also, we're a couple of idiots."

"Also true." That laugh was a tad more lighthearted, eventually getting the both of them in stitches.

"Marla, Wilma, and Emmi are terrible gossips," Reyes said between laughs. He hated to admit it, but Lilly's girlfriends were terribly annoying majority of the time, except when Wilma saved his and Dominic's skins a few years back.

"I miss them," she said, trying to sound offended but coming off still amused.

"I don't. They hounded on me better than a pack of Mightyena. No offense."

"None taken. They were quite…predatory."

"The old man that sold Berries back in Pacifidlog practically did robbery with his prices."

"I miss our home in Pacifidlog," he said before he could stop himself, quickly weighing down the air once more. Lilly gave him a small but warm smile.

"I miss our home too."

"I miss Sunny," he added as an afterthought, bringing his claws up to his chest. "I miss…"

"I miss our _family._ " He looked up to see her crying, silent tears rolling down her cheeks to join their salty counterparts below. He stood up and treaded the shallow water to lean into the curve of her neck. She easily lowered her head, reforming their perfect fit from all those years ago, and they maintained their reverent silence indefinitely. "…You were right."

"About what?"

"I wasn't just…afraid that I'd let you down—I was afraid of what it meant for myself," she admitted. "You weren't the greatest revolutionary, but Pokémon knew your strength. How weak was I, just swimming under the sun and taking care of our daughter? Especially when you left for long trips—it wasn't your fault either, so don't make that face. I kept thinking, _What do I actually mean to a man that saves dozens of lives every day?_ Just terrible thoughts like that, like I was just another hurdle for you to conquer, like you didn't actually care for either of us… I wanted some sort of meaning for being in your big picture, Reyes, because I was so afraid of what it would mean to never find that, that meaning."

"What was your hang-up with finding yourself or your purpose, whatever you want to call it? There are people and Pokémon that waste so many years looking for a reason, and that's not to say that I'm calling you or them bullshit, not at all, but those are years better spent with family and friends, just living. A plant doesn't know it's purpose, but it doesn't mope around about it."

"I'm not a plant," she said with a trace of humor.

"You're right. You're Lilly, and you didn't have to fuck around for all these years to find out that much. Sorry, I get a little carried away."

"Not forgiven. You know how I feel about cursing."

"I know. It sucks," he added. "But you see where I'm going, don't you?"

"You always were exceptional at giving long-winded speeches with no discernable point," she smiled. "So no, I really have no idea where you're going."

"Time and time again, we have to put ourselves on the line for the good of humanity, Pokémonkind, the world," he said. "How often do we get to do things for ourselves anymore? To be able to sit and have a family was the single best thing that ever happened to me, then I lost it all; still, I had to keep going, serve the people. That was—is—my purpose: to help. Yours is to just be you."

"I think you deserve a personal reason to live too."

"I don't deserve nearly as much as you think I do."

"And the same goes for me."

"That's one of the consequences of loving someone," Reyes said. "Except sometimes the people we love do stupid things."

"Reyes—"

"And even though they do a terrific sleight-of-flipper trick that could make even a hardened Makuhita blush madly—"

"Reyes!"

"—they can also break hearts beyond repair," he muttered, massaging his chest where the ache has yet to fade. "They don't talk about their pain and instead run away with it, leaving the lover alone with their own, and even when they reunite after so long, the words won't come out right…"

"Reyes…" He was crying now, far from what he wanted to look like, but it didn't matter: Lilly had seen far worse sides from him. Her tears started all over again. "I never should have left. It was my mistake. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"We both made mistakes, but we can't do anything about them now."

"Then what do we do?"

"…We look away. Start somewhere else, somewhere new." He held out his claws. "And rebuild."

"Rebuild…" She hesitated, then she pressed the tip of her flipper against her palm. "And just start from zero?" He wiped his face and smiled.

"Start from zero."

Dominic found Reyes close to dawn, sprawled on the sand and deep in sleep. He couldn't see Lilly and wondered if things were all right, then he saw the delicate little white flower he was holding tightly and decided well, they couldn't have been too bad.

"Hey, Reyes. Wake up."

"Mm…" He rolled onto his back with a yawn. "You're late," he said, blinking into the growing sun.

"I know. I, uh, lost track of time."

"For five hours?"

"I was hungry, okay? And before you ask, no, we're not banned from this town too. Where's she?"

"She has work to do too," Reyes said after a moment.

"She still won't join the revolutionaries?" He shook his head but didn't speak. "That's a shame. Anyway let's get going." He offered his claws and Reyes took them, allowing himself to be pulled up. "That flower?" Dominic asked, noticing his vise grip.

"It's a lily," he said with a small smile.

"…I don't get it."

"You don't need to. Let's go." They started an unhurried walk up the pathway to town, Reyes still rolling the flower between his claws.

"You could've went with her," Dominic suggested without really thinking about it. Reyes frowned a moment before shaking his head.

"You'd die without me."

"I don't love you _that_ much now, conceited."

"No. Without my sane logic, you'd die in a nanosecond."

"Thanks, I can always count on you to overestimate my intelligence," he said dryly. Phoebe's head poked out from between his ears, wide eyes blinking curiously at them. "You're awake?"

"Ahn."

"Hungry?"

"Ah-ah."

"Thirsty?"

"Aah."

"Are you gonna piss in my mane again? because it wasn't funny then and it won't ever be funny."

"Nah!" she pouted, slapping her tiny paws on his forehead and playing with his eyebrows. He pouted in much the same manner and Reyes found himself smiling.

"But you know what?" Reyes said, catching Dominic's attention. "You're a pretty cool dad." Dominic stared a moment before breaking into a wide grin, punching Reyes' arm.

"And you're pretty cool too…Sceptile," he said, reminding Reyes of when he would only refer to him as such on their first "meeting."

"…We have to keep moving, Your Majesty."

"Ugugu," he said, still grinning. "I kind of miss being _the King,_ you know?"

"I don't, in fact."

"Well I know, and I miss it."

"Aba." Phoebe jumped down from Dominic's head and to the pathway, the star of her tail glimmering like the real thing. She pointed between Dominic and Reyes with an ecstatic expression. "Da?"

"What? What are you saying?" Dominic asked, perplexed.

"Pah…pah…"

"Pah-pah… Pahpa. Papas." Dominic and Reyes exchanged aghast look. "Not in a million, trillion years," Reyes said, shoving Dominic away.

"I'm cute and loveable," he objected.

"In the Distortion World, maybe—I don't think even a spatial anomaly can turn you _cute and loveable._ "

"Oi!"

"Pah-pah!" Phoebe repeated with a laugh. "Bah!"

"Well, _Papa,_ it looks like you're stuck with me," Dominic smirked. "Now let's hug and make up."

"Touch me and I'll shove my blades so far up your ass you'll taste them."

"It's okay, I'll just hug myself."

"An!" Phoebe started jumping restlessly in her spot. Dominic knelt down to lessen the height difference and she jumped into his chest, burying her face in his neck fur with a loving, consistent purr. He froze for a moment, awestruck, then slowly brought his claws up to her back in the faintest of touch. Reyes chuckled at how baffled and out of his depth Dominic looked as his eyes trailed over the lily.

 _Here."_

 _You grew a lily for me? You're as huge a botanist as ever."_

 _I know you can't stay—you have your own life now, even if I don't like that we're always going to be separated—but I want us to still share something, and… And if you ever decide that you do want to join us, then we'll be waiting. I'll be waiting."_

 _That'll be at the forefront of my mind, I promise. I won't disappear again—you'll be seeing me soon."_

Things weren't the same between them and nothing guaranteed that they would ever be back within the range of normality, but they made progress that night, and if there was anything he'd learned in his life, it was that even tiny steps were still movement on the journey. It was just sad that he could only apply his "little bit at a time" mentality to the huge tragedies of his life, none too short in number.

"This is new to me." Dominic's voice startled him a bit.

"What is?"

"The whole…'being loved' shebang."

"It can't still be new to you, you moron."

"You'd be surprised how many times I wake up and forget. But you know what?" He gently grasped Phoebe around her sides and held her away from his face. "I love you, Feb." She licked his nose in response. "And I love you too, Reyes, and Sinclair and stupid Jay and Louis and Brahms and—everyone else. And I'm happy."

"Mm."

If little Phoebe and the lily in his claws were anything to go by, the world wouldn't crash and burn any time soon. So, Reyes decided, things were better. Not great, but better.

"You're always saying funny things," Dominic remarked as they closed in on the edge of Fuchsia Town.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, not ha-ha-funny, more like depressing-funny."

"Force of habit, I guess." He paused. "And you, you're always speaking ahead of your brain."

"Force of habit? Okay, I'll start thinking before I open my mouth."

"Thank _Arceus_ you learned that lesson—better late than never. And I'll… I'll be positive from now on."

"And I'll win the Nobel Peace Prize," he snorted.

"Shut up."

"Shut doesn't go up, but your ass will when I beat it."

"Now you've named _two_ improbabilities."

"I can win! Right, Feb?"

"Ah-ah!"

"Oh come on!"

Time and time again, things will surely end okay.


End file.
